CHAPTER XX
ON THE BRINK OF WAR
To everybody else, affairs at Rockledge School seemed to go on as ever.There were hard lessons, and easy lessons (the former predominating, theboys thought) and there were many, many good times as the seasonadvanced.
Monatook Lake froze completely over. At first the boys were not allowedupon it; but when a team of horses, hitched to a pung, had been drivenfrom shore to shore--from the edge of Rockledge town to Belden--word wasgiven from the teachers' desks that skating on the lake within so manyyards of the boathouse, would be allowed.
The gate-keeper set stakes, to which little red flags were attached, atthe corners of the ice-bounds, and for a few days, at least, theRockledge boys were satisfied with the restrictions.
They saw the Belden boys skating on their side of the lake, too, andother boys, from the two villages, who did not go to either school,skated where they pleased.
On half holidays bounds were released, but if the boys wished to skatethe length of the lake a teacher went along. Owing to the feelingbetween the boys of the two schools, Dr. Raymond did not even test theLower School with Barry Gray for monitor.
Bobby, of course, entered into all these sports. Even Fred thought thathis chum's punishment had ended, and likely enough the red-haired boyhad forgotten all about his interrupted fight with Sparrow Bangs.
Fred and Sparrow were the best of friends. To tell the truth, BobbyBlake was somewhat gloomy these days--he was not as much fun as usual.
Fred put it down to the fact of the mystery regarding Mr. and Mrs.Blake. Of course, a fellow could not be very jolly when he did not knowfor sure whether his father and mother were dead or alive!
However, Fred did not see how he could help his chum. He did his bestto liven Bobby up; but was not very successful at it. It did reallyseem to Fred as though Bobby "gloomed about" altogether too much.
"It's all right for a fellow to feel badly about his folks," said Gingerto Sparrow, who had become his confidant for the time being, "but youcan't get him out of his grouch."
"He's trying to be too good," scoffed Sparrow. "I bet he's aiming to getthe medal."
"Scubbity-_yow_!" ejaculated Fred. "That would be great!"
"Pshaw! he can't get it. No Lower School boy ever got it. I expectBarry Gray will be medal man _this_ year."
"He won't get _my_ vote," declared Fred, shaking his head.
"Why not, Ginger?"
Fred was used to this nickname now, and did not get mad at it, but heshook his head, and said:
"Just for _that_. Barry nicknamed me. He's too fresh."
"Aw, pshaw! you're prejudiced," laughed Sparrow.
None of the boys realized what the matter was with Bobby. And he wouldnot tell Fred that he had anything to do with forming the cloud underwhich Bobby suffered.
The silence of his father and mother--the uncertainty about them--_did_trouble Bobby continually. Yet he had a deep-seated hope that all wouldcome out right about them. Barry Gray's comforting words regarding theshipwreck had fired his imagination.
The thought, however, that no matter how well he stood in his classes,or how high his marks of deportment were, he could not win the Medal ofHonor, disturbed the boy's mind.
Christmas week came. Bobby and Fred had intended to go home to Clintonfor the short holiday, but the very day the term closed a greatsnowstorm set in. It snowed so heavily the first night that therailroads were blocked. Dr. Raymond would not let any of the boys leavethe school, save two or three who lived near and whose people came forthem in sleighs.
The good doctor telegraphed to the parents of his boys instead, andgreat preparations were made for a dinner and celebration at the schoolwhich would make the boys forget their disappointment.
Presents could arrive by express, too, by New Year's, and Dr. Raymondsaid that the actual distribution of gifts at Rockledge would beadvanced one week. New Year's should be celebrated like Christmas.
The two and a half days' snow covered the lake two feet deep on a level.The ice had been more than a foot thick when it began to snow. In fact,the Rockledge and Belden icemen had been getting ready to cut, but wouldnow have to put it over until after New Year's, because of the scarcityof labor.
There was no danger on the ice. There was not one airhole anywherebetween the shore-fronts of the two schools--a stretch of nearly fourmiles of level, glistening snow.
The boys of the Rockledge Lower School had had much fun, on halfholidays, up the lake at the island where the winter camp had beenbuilt; but that was a long way to go over the snow. Nobody had evertried snowshoeing and skiing, and the authorities at the school ratherfrowned upon these sports. However, the field of snow between thebluffs on which the rival schools were built was a vast temptation for ahundred active boys.
There was a snowball skirmish between the larger boys of the two schoolsthe very first day after the storm ceased. Captain Gray and his crowdhad met a bunch of Beldenites ("Bedlamites," the Rockledge boys calledtheir rivals) near the first island--a little, rocky cone, now a snowymound, and with only a few trees upon it.
The fight had been fast and furious as long as it lasted, but it wasrather a good-natured one, after all. Finally Captain Gray and thecaptain of the Belden School met for a few minutes' conversation. Inthat few minutes a challenge was given and accepted. Unless theteachers interfered, it was arranged to have a general snow battlebetween the schools.
Free from lessons, and with most of the ordinary rules relaxed, CaptainGray could plan a coup that the enemy would not possibly expect. It hadbeen agreed that the coming battle should be fought near the island,which was about in the middle of the lake between the two schools.
That night, after supper, Captain Gray picked a dozen boys to helphim--and not all big boys, for Bobby and Fred were among them--and theyslipped out of the house.
"We'll get the bulge on those Bedlamites," chuckled the captain. "Comeon, now. Run!" and he set off in the lead.
He would not tell what was afoot, but every boy was excited enough tofollow and obey.
They crossed the campus and went down the long flight of stairs to theboathouse. The cold was so intense, and the wind had blown so hardwhile it was snowing, that they crunched along right on top of thedrifts, and the walking was easy.
There was no moon, but the stars gave them light enough. Besides, it isnever really dark when the snow covers the ground.
The twelve boys speeded across the white expanse. Bobby and Fred wereproud that they had been chosen by the bigger fellows to take part inthis mysterious adventure.
Captain Gray insisted upon several snow-shovels being brought along, andas soon as they reached the island, he put them all to work. The ideawas to fortify the islet and hold it against the expected attack nextday of the Belden School.
"This will be a surprise to them," declared Gray, proudly. "I saw rightoff that whichever side could get this island and hold it, would have anadvantage.
"Building breastworks down on the pond is all right, but from thisheight we can throw snowballs right into any breastworks that thosefellows can build.
"A bunch of us will come out here to-morrow morning with our breakfastsin our hands (I've fixed it all up with Mary, the cook) and we'll holdthis island till the crowd on both sides gets here."
Two hours' work under the direction of Barry turned the island (whichwas barely ten yards long) into a veritable fort. Within that time, thetwelve boys had built the fortress, partly of bowlders that had beenwell placed by Nature, and pieced out the rock buttresses with thickwalls of snow.
The party got back to school just before the retiring bell rang, andescaped a scolding only because the rules were relaxed for the holidays.In the cold, chilly dawn, half a dozen of the boys of Dormitory Two wereawakened by the bigger fellows. Bobby and Fred were among them.
"Aw, crickey!" gaped Fred, burrowing in the pillow. "I don't want toget up no
w."
Bobby was out of bed in a moment. "Come along! It's going to be fun,Fred," he said.
Fred was lazy. He burrowed deeper. In about thirty seconds a large,juicy snowball, scooped off the window sill by Max Bender, was throwninto the back of Fred Martin's neck.
"Yee-ow!" yelled the startled Ginger, and rose up to fight back. Thebig boy ran, however, chuckling, and all Fred could do was to dress,grumblingly.
"All these big fellows are fresh," he confided to Bobby.
"I wonder what _we'll_ be when we are as big as they are, and boss theschool?" returned his more thoughtful chum.
That feazed Fred a little. By and by--as he finished his dressing--headmitted:
"Well, Bobby, I'd never thought of that!"
The guard thus called to duty by Captain Gray gathered, shivering, inthe kitchen. Good natured Mary had risen an hour earlier than usual andmade a big can of coffee, and there were sandwiches and doughnuts.
"Worth getting up early for, that's sure," announced Fred, becoming morecontent. "Won't Pee Wee be sore because he's not in this?"
They marched away with shovels and sleds. Overnight the smaller boys hadmade a lot of snowballs and they had been packed in boxes and put on thesleds. But before the early procession started, Barry examined all theboxes, and finding that somebody had made "soakers," he dumped them out.
"Let me catch any of you boys icing the ammunition, and I'll tend toyou," he promised, angrily.
"Aw, those Bedlamites busted Frankie Doane's head open with a soakerlast winter," complained Sparrow Bangs.
"We won't be mean just because they've been," declared Captain Gray."You see that you're not guilty, Sparrow."
"Gosh!" muttered Fred, in Sparrow's ear, "don't that sound just likeBobby?"
"You bet! They're a pair. Guess Bobby's a copy-cat. He's following inBarry's 'feet-prints.'"
"Don't you say that!" flamed up Ginger, at once. "Bobby has _always_been like that. He's the fairest chap that ever was. If anybody's thecopy-cat, it's old Captain Gray!"
Neither of the boys in question beard this, and it was just as wellperhaps that they didn't.
It was scarcely daylight when the party reached the island. They didnot see a Belden boy stirring on the farther bank of the lake. Aftersetting the tasks to be done by these guards, Barry went back to theschool, leaving Max Bender in charge of the fortress.
Max was rather a lazy fellow, and he always let the smaller boys do hiswork--if they would agree. He was good natured enough about it.
He sat down in a sheltered place, and had Bobby and Fred cut the underbranches of the firs for firewood, and they soon had a nice little firegoing.
This might attract the attention of the enemy to the fort, but Max didnot care for that.
"You boys keep on making snowballs. You'll have to make them outsidethe fort--down on the ice, there, and then you can draw them in on thesleds. Get busy now."
"What are _you_ going to do?" demanded Ginger Martin, rather perkily.
"Never you mind, youngster," returned Max. "You never read of theofficers in authority getting on the firing line, do you? I've got tostay up here and keep watch, and plan the defense of the island."
"Oh, crickey!" exclaimed Ginger, scornfully. "You're a regularNapoleon--_not_!"
And it was a fact that, had the younger boys holding the fort dependedupon Bender's watchfulness, the Beldenites would have been upon themunannounced.
Naturally the boys making snowballs did so on the side of the islandfacing Rockledge School. The island hid from them the Belden side of thelake.
But suddenly Bobby, who had dragged in a heavy sled load of snowballs,and was packing them securely in a pile behind an upper fortification,chanced to stand up to stretch his limbs and looked over the breastwork.
"Oh, look here!" he yelled. "Here's the Bedlamites right onto us!"
And it was true. The captain of the rival school had seen what theRockledge boys were about--or he had suspected it, seeing the smoke ofMax Bender's fire.
He had brought out his whole crew, and the vanguard of Belden boys wasnow but a few yards from the shore of the snow-covered and embattledisland. They were making the attack in silence, and hoped to take thegarrison of the fort by surprise.
Bobby Blake at Rockledge School; or, Winning the Medal of Honor Page 20